Using client time to calculate timezone

Question

Instead of asking a client timezone in registration form (to correctly format datetime, all server dates in UTC) I thought about fetching a time from client computer and calculating time offset between client and server.

Anyone tried this? How often clients have something insane on their system clocks?

Cheers!

Answer 1

Well, I think it's a nice idea, and if your application does not depend on that I would implement it.

After all, if the user has the wrong time in their machine (for who knows what reason) it is probably because he wants to, and its only hurting himself if the times in your app are a little off.

But of course, if you're application for some reason depends on knowing the exact time zone of the user, you should ask for it (even with suggestions) with a big sign telling the user that your application depends on the correct setting, so the user knows its important.